Perception versus reality

But our minds are tricky. We are continuously scanning the environment for danger. Your brain is your own personal brain scanner, always looking for danger. Basic issues are oversimplified and threats are magnified. In spite of the mass shootings we actually live in the safest era in history. One of my friends sent me this article pointing out the sharp decline in violent deaths since 1980. Human history is essentially one of violence and power. The vast majority of police officers are remarkable role models and frequently perform acts of heroism. Just walking out the door in a uniform, knowing that he or she could be a sniper target from 200 yards is an act of courage. Massive decline in gun violence

However, the media visually dramatizes stories and focuses on the negative aspects. Every violent act is captured in detail on smart phones. We are helpless to enact common sense social changes due to major political and corporate interests blocking the efforts. This feeds into a collective state of anxiety regardless of how safe we really are and also our tendency to blame others. We have more material possessions and comforts than any society in the history of the world. Shouldn’t that calm us down? What is the problem? Why are we so angry and reactive? The DOC starting point 

It’s anxiety. The root cause of our societal angst is relentless anxiety, which is the driver of anger. Unfortunately, the medical profession treats anxiety as a psychological problem when it is really the body’s chemical response to unpleasant sensory input. It is a universal physiological reaction that enables living creatures to survive on this planet. Here is how it goes.

The neurophysiological basis for emotional and physical pain

Your unconscious brain processes 20 million bits of sensory input every second. Each sensation, sound, touch, taste, smell, vision has to be interpreted by your brain as pleasant, neutral or unpleasant. It continuously interprets the sum total of this input and directs your organs to secrete hormones that are relaxing and enjoyable (dopamine, GABA, oxytocin), or signal danger (adrenaline and cortisol). When you feel anxious or afraid you are experiencing the surge of these chemicals in your body.

Any stress, real or perceived, signals danger and your reaction will always be this survival response. The effects of adrenaline and cortisol include sweating, rapid breathing, shortness of breath, hyper-attentiveness, tightness in your stomach, urinary frequency, and a rapid heart rate. Anxiety, anger and adrenaline

The curse of consciousness

The curse of the human experience is that thoughts are also sensory input that cause the same chemical reactions as a physical threat and are competing for sensory attention. The problem with thoughts compared to the other senses is that you cannot escape them. You will consciously or unconsciously act in a manner to avoid unpleasant physical sensory input. Although you can try to suppress or mask disturbing thoughts, they will keep coming at you and will become progressively more intense with repetition. It is also a problem that is made worse by the fact that our lifespans are now about 30 years longer than in the early 1900’s.

Every human faces this problem. If you come from a difficult background or are trying to meet unrealistic expectations, physical symptoms and illness will begin earlier. If you have a great upbringing you may make it through your entire life without too much trouble. I had a rough beginning but thought I had figured it out until I began having panic attacks and extreme anxiety in my mid-30’s. I achieved my “success” through extreme suppression of my thoughts and did not have any sense of anxiety or anger. My body (brain) knew better.

Since you cannot escape your thoughts, you’ll be under a greater or lesser degree of constant chemical assault. Your progressive anxiety may become disruptive. I was in this state for over 15 years, with the last seven of them being intolerable. My battle with NPD Even in the presence of physical pain, most of my patients tell me that they can deal with the physical pain better than the constant worrying and anxiety. Am I operating on your pain or anxiety? What does all of this have to do with the current societal angst and ongoing violence? Anxiety and anger are the same entity.

Anger = anxiety with a chemical kick

Anger occurs when you have lost control. When you do not have the ability to alter an anxiety-producing situation, your body will secrete even more adrenaline in an attempt regain control. Anger is anxiety with a chemical kick. Anger = loss of control

With the correct diagnosis and treatment approach, relentless anxiety is eminently treatable with remarkably simple strategies. It involves:

• Stimulating the formation of new neurological pathways.
• Shifting onto more functional and enjoyable brain circuits.
• Decreasing the adrenaline rush by training yourself to chill out in presence of stress.

Anxiety is a public health issue

These are easily learned skills that should be part of the basic learning curriculum in elementary school. With the added stresses of over-population, etc. it is rapidly becoming a skill that needs to be learned by every one of us quickly and especially by the medical profession, who society has entrusted with its healing. Societal disintegration – untreated anxiety

This conceptual framework is the basis of the second edition of my updated book. We are not going to solve any of this planet’s problems until we address the root problem of sustained anxiety and anger as a major public health issue using the correct therapeutic approach.

The DOC starting point 

Listen to the Back in Control Radio podcast Neurophysiological Basis of Pain

The post Neurophysiological Basis of Pain first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Neurophysiological Basis of Pain appeared first on Back in Control.

• You can only engage in the tools that enable your brain to heal itself.
  • The basic starting point is regularly practicing active mediation.
• In fact, the more focused you are on getting rid of your pain, the lower the odds are that the pain will abate.
•  Pain will still be running the show.
  • It is important move forward with or without your pain
• The new neurological pathways do not have to embody pain.

I have a metaphor that I share it with many of my patients. Trying to “fix” chronic pain is like putting your hand into the middle of a hornet’s nest. You cannot be successful in controlling these powerful survival responses. The process is that of connecting with your true nature and letting go – like a bunch of balloons.

A Bunch of Balloons

Imagine climbing a large mountain the size of Mount Rainier. At the peak, there is a “better you.”  The climb represents our endless quest for self-improvement. This journey takes endless forms: self-help books, healers, psychologists, medications, etc. There is a significant problem with this situation: “What does that ‘better you’ look like?” You may have a vague idea, but generally it is a concept that is idealized and humanly unattainable. Additionally, you are expending a tremendous amount of your life energy on this endless quest.

Instead, imagine a bunch of balloons tied to a railing. The strings represent your neurological patterns that are holding you down. What the various reprogramming tools accomplish is to cut the strings. Eventually, you will take off. There is no longer a goal to achieve a “better you.” You are able to enjoy the life you have with what you have. You are also not expending any effort and the potential is limitless.

You are fine just the way you are this minute. There are many interferences connecting with your true value system. Once you re-connect with who you really are, your life will change. Remember: the consistent result of many patients going through this process is a rich pain-free life.  The main variable is the degree of commitment – and letting go.

The post A Bunch of Balloons first appeared on Back in Control.

The post A Bunch of Balloons appeared first on Back in Control.

Having read (devoured actually) The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, I can now share with others the benefits I received through reading this book.

The author demystified that very mysterious quality of world-class excellence. He teaches that through deep practice, anyone can train themselves (and hence their neural circuits) such that they become excellent at virtually any task. Repetition in ‘deep practice’ mode, at the very edges of the person’s (or organism’s) ability, is essential. For me, learning to experience life in a non-sad baseline state is a skill. It is profoundly comforting to have learned that, through repetition, I can train myself to feel ”default non-sadness” as a new way of life. I’ll undergo something akin to Clarissa’s famous 6 minutes’ practice of “Golden Wedding” on her clarinet. I’ll need to experiment with just which behaviors to repeat. Starting with mindfulness-based meditation, and writing as described in the DOC Project, I’ll develop and refine a ‘flexible regimen’ in the nature of a workout-for-the-spirit.

I have come to believe that my severe physical (if neuropathic) pain can be eased and possibly eliminated through repetition-based deep training. My reasoning is this: Because my experience of pain comes in waves lasting anywhere from 5 to 15 days, separated by weeks of almost no pain, something or things (probably anxiety and concomitant anger) must be triggering the pain.  I believe it is just as valid to conclude that something (or things) must trigger the cessation of my pain. Inspired by (ignited motivationally by!) the Talent Code, I’ll experiment and reflect, eventually learning which of my behaviors trigger this “cessation” of physical pain. As The Talent Code articulates, through repetition and practice – “pain-quelling” behaviors in my case – I can strengthen (myelinate) just the right neural circuits to reprogram, or overwrite, my nervous system’s pain script. I’ll need coaching to succeed; regular meetings with Dr Hanscom will be needed.

Part III – Master Coaching resonated with me. I had thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Curacao talent hotbed in Part II. As it happens my father coached my little league team. But a friend of our family who had been head coach of Seattle University’s basketball team, The Chiefs, did much of the real coaching. Our friend knew how to inspire (if not ignite) motivation.

As a little leaguer, I developed a decent pitching arm through genuine deep practice. Every day after school, I came home and practiced pitching a rubber ball – a surrogate for a little league baseball – by hurling it down our driveway at the “knob” or “door handle” of our closed garage door (the knob is a metal handle located a perfect 2.5 feet above ground, making a perfect target, just like a catcher’s mitt would). From 45 feet I threw that ball for hours, nearly every day, until I became accurate and fast. I realize now this was classic deep-practice. I hit that door handle about once a night. That handle is no bigger than a closed fist. Although my motivation to be a little league pitcher was self-ignited, having a university-level athletics coach in the “family constellation” added much to the experience. I was as good a pitcher that first year as I could possibly have been. I was having a “Talent Code” experience. 44 years later, Daniel Coyle wrote about the code in an informative, practical and enjoyable volume.

My Perspective

I performed a successful neck surgery on this patient a couple of years ago.  He did well and I did not see him for almost a year.  He did not engage in the DOC Project, but from my perspective, it did not seem necessary.  When he came back to see me about eight months ago, he was in terrible pain from what seemed like bone spurs in his neck affecting the nerves that ran down his right arm.  I re-worked him up with a new MRI scan.  We discussed the option of re-doing his neck surgery from the front and adding two more levels.  A three-level neck fusion was going to be a significant operation.

A year earlier, he was not open to the re-programming concepts of the DOC protocol.  Reading the Talent Code gave him a lot of hope, as he was able to conceptualize how the brain lays down circuits to form new neurological pathways. He then not only engaged fully in the writing program, but he also pursued everything else I gave him to read.

Lo and behold, his pain disappeared.  It has returned several times again to a point that tempted me to offer him the option of surgery.  Each time we talk, he is able to see what might be triggering his pain pathways and the pain disappears.

Ongoing learning

He is teaching me more about how the neurological pathways can be specifically triggered by life events.  As a surgeon, I am still trying to get my head around how powerful a role the nervous system plays regarding the perpetuation of chronic pain. It is also gratifying that his anxiety is decreasing despite him holding down a very stressful managerial job.

In the world of neurological circuits, there is no beginning or end.  I see everyone with the potential of living a pain-free, full, rich life, without limitations. I don’t know where this patient will end up. All I know is that last week he had his smile back.

BF

The post Motivated by “The Talent Code” first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Motivated by “The Talent Code” appeared first on Back in Control.